Advice on barbecue!

Yorkshirelad

Active Member
Oct 21, 2017
132
Stratford
Boat Info
340 Searay 86
454 Mercruisers with v drives
Ray-marine radar and gps
Engines
454 mercruisers
Hi Guys,
I need advice on purchasing a barbecue grill for my 34 Express Cruiser, my swim platform is 20” deep. So I’m looking at a pedestal set up and something that I can dismantle for cruising.
Cheers Rob
 
You will find that you dont need to post the same question multiple places. Many people view by new or recent, so the posts will show up either way.
 
You will find that you dont need to post the same question multiple places. Many people view by new or recent, so the posts will show up either way.
Got it!
 
You may want to think about a Magma grill with the rod holder mount if you have a rod holder. No pedestal needed and easy to put away.
 
You may want to think about a Magma grill with the rod holder mount if you have a rod holder. No pedestal needed and easy to put away.
I built a portable pedestal mount for my Magma Catalina grill. Used the long table leg from the cockpit table (I upgraded mine to a very beefy hi/lo), added the fold-able tripod legs, and then fabricated a receiver on the top of the leg for the cam lever rod holder mount. This worked great. One day, I had the grill out on our wooden deck at home, and mid grilling, accidentally hit the cam lever. You can imagine what happened. I bought the table top feet for the grill, and am under construction building this:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fg0j7234xwv6len/AAD-z8USp86nGn2QIfJ-5rTUa?dl=0
He may still be building the rail mount table.
 
I have a Weber Q series grill that I put on a Magma Filet Table that goes into one of the rod holders. The Q grills are either propane or electric. Mine is electric so I have to run the generator to use it. Great setup.
 
I have a Magma Newport: <>
I have the Magma Pedestal too... It work great, but its not inexpensive...
 
Rod holder on swimstep...

2018-08-14 17.59.05.jpg
 
Many grills including my Weber Q grill have grease trays under the drain hole in the bottom of the grill.
 
Ok, I’m warning everybody before hand I am speaking heresy. Skip the gas grill and go directly to electric. We switched to a Kenyon electric last year and the results are remarkable. Here’s the thing, you will never find a boat grill that can generate the BTUs your grill can at home. Add to that fire regulations that (at least here in the Northeast) are making it impossible to have an open flame grill on a boat in a marina.

The electric grill is nearly as good as a home gas/charcoal grill in terms of heat and because of the water filled drip pan excess smoke is avoided.
 
Ok, I’m warning everybody before hand I am speaking heresy. Skip the gas grill and go directly to electric. We switched to a Kenyon electric last year and the results are remarkable. Here’s the thing, you will never find a boat grill that can generate the BTUs your grill can at home. Add to that fire regulations that (at least here in the Northeast) are making it impossible to have an open flame grill on a boat in a marina.

The electric grill is nearly as good as a home gas/charcoal grill in terms of heat and because of the water filled drip pan excess smoke is avoided.

But where would i put the honda genset to run it. Sorry I could not help myself :)
 
Ok, I’m warning everybody before hand I am speaking heresy. Skip the gas grill and go directly to electric. We switched to a Kenyon electric last year and the results are remarkable. Here’s the thing, you will never find a boat grill that can generate the BTUs your grill can at home. Add to that fire regulations that (at least here in the Northeast) are making it impossible to have an open flame grill on a boat in a marina.

The electric grill is nearly as good as a home gas/charcoal grill in terms of heat and because of the water filled drip pan excess smoke is avoided.

I think electric grills are a great alternative for the reasons you list, but my Weber Q does does in fact get as hot as my home Weber grill and stays lit to about 35 it’s of wind. I’ve attached a couple pics of some steak and burgers with perfect grill marks. 3 minutes per side x 2 = medium rare. Make me hungry looking at them!

1182A3CE-CE60-4780-A133-5A56E3E0C449.jpeg
3851D3B9-7E48-4CF1-B7EB-55EBE2492766.jpeg


The downside to electric in my mind is having to run an outlet or extension cord to it, and having to run the genny in order to use it (my inverter would work too...for a little bit anyway).

Both are great options with pros and cons depending on your local, set up and ability to wire such things.

For my money and easy of use, the Weber Q is perfect for the boat.
 
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I think electric grills are a great alternative for the reasons you list, but my Weber Q does does in fact get as hot as my home Weber grill and stays lit to about 35 it’s of wind. I’ve attached a couple pics of some steak and burgers with perfect grill marks. 3 minutes per side x 2 = medium rare. Make me hungry looking at them!

View attachment 79137 View attachment 79138

The downside to electric in my mind is having to run an outlet or extension cord to it, and having to run the genny in order to use it (my inverter would work too...for a little bit anyway).

Both are great options with pros and cons depending on your local, set up and ability to wire such things.

For my money and easy of use, the Weber Q is perfect for the boat.

I should have been clearer. I was trying to say that gas boat grills fall short on BTUs when compared to gas home grills (or at least our Dynasty). The Kenyon electric definitely can compete with home gas on BTUs. We decided on the Kenyon because with the water tray we could cook inside the helm deck under the hardtop and not worry about smoke and flare ups. True there is a flavor trade off. But being able to cook in air conditioning and away from the Green Head flies in July is priceless
 
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I should have been clearer. I was trying to say that gas boat grills fall short on BTUs when compared to gas home grills (or at least our Dynasty). The Kenyon electric definitely can compete with home gas on BTUs. We decided on the Kenyon because with the water tray we could cook inside the helm deck under the hardtop and not worry about smoke and flare ups. True there is a flavor trade off. But being able to cook in air conditioning and away from the Green Head flies in July is priceless

I would agree most do but this little Weber gets HOT! I think the same is true of the electric version.
 
But where would i put the honda genset to run it. Sorry I could not help myself :)

On the swim platform, of course...

<ducks for cover>
 
I had a Weber electric grill and I ended up giving it away. It did get much hotter than the Magma Newport I have now. But it frequently popped the circuit breaker and worst of all, it had big grease flare ups. So much so that I stopped using it on the boat and cooked with it off the boat only. I love the quality of Weber grills, but did not like this electric one at all. As far as the Newport goes, I don't love it either. It gets the job done safely and I have no worries using it on the boat in a rod holder mount. The problem with it is that it is affected by wind in a big way and has never cooked evenly. One side has always cooked much faster than the other.
 
We are considering the Magma kettle on a post on the swim deck. Can't use an electric on the swim deck. I would trip over the genny trying to get to the grill.;)
 

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